Friday, February 4, 2011

by Tom Haywood, Houston, EI
Exxon Mobil, with a market capitalization of $368.7 billion, is back at the top of the heap in the 2010 ranking of the world's largest publicly traded energy companies. But it's cold comfort for anyone hoping that the Western IOCs may be staging a comeback. The real story behind the annual survey by Washington-based consulting firm PFC Energy is that the Western majors are continuing to lose ground to non-Western rivals. China's PetroChina (no. 2) and Brazil's Petrobras (no. 3) have market capitalizations of $303 billion and $229 billion, respectively, and rounding out the non-Western top 10 are Russia's Gazprom (no. 6 at $149 billion) and China's CNOOC (no. 10 at $106 billion). The PFC top-10 includes the usual Western suspects -- Royal Dutch Shell [no. 4 at $207.9 billion], Chevron [no. 5 at $183.6 billion], BP [no. 7 at $136.4 billion], Total [no. 8 at $124.5 billion] and Schlumberger [no. 9 at $113.9 billion]. However, there is no getting around the fact that the Western majors owned 85% of the world's energy reserves in the late 1960s and own 15% today. [Full story]

(The PFC Energy 50 is the definitive ranking of the world's leading publicly traded energy companies by market capitalization. The listing includes companies from nine sectors: International Oil Companies; National Oil Companies; Exploration & Production; North America-Focused E&P, Refining & Marketing; Gas/Utilities; Oilfield & Drilling Services; Equipment, Engineering & Construction; and Alternative Energy. The full report is available at https://workspaces.acrobat.com/?d=4sFQLTPinFv*dy6goC6pRw. ExxonMobil, with market capitalization of $368.7 billion, regained the top position it has held on the PFC Energy 50 list in every year but 2007 and 2009. The XTO merger---see also my remarks here---and 7% share price growth combined to increase the company’s market capitalization by 14%. The 2009 leader PetroChina, a subsidiary of CNPC, closed the year 18% behind ExxonMobil, following a 14% decline in its market value. Petrobras, this year no. 3 at $228.9 billion, was no. 27 on the first PFC Energy 50 list in 1999; its market cap has grown from $13.5 billion – a 27% compound annual rate. The effect of the 23% 2010 share price decline was more than offset by a ~$67 billion new offering. North America is home to no fewer than 20 of the top 50 firms in the world: 14 U.S. firms and six Canadian firms. U.S. companies on the list include No.1 ExxonMobil; No. 5 Chevron; No. 9 Schlumberger; No. 12 ConocoPhillips; No. 16 Occidental; No. 27 Apache; No. 30 Anadarko; No. 32 Halliburton; No. 36 Devon; No. 42 Natl Oilwell Varco; No. 44 Marathon; No. 45 Hess; No. 47 Baker Hughes and No. 49 EOG Resources. Canada's companies on the list include No. 23 Suncor; No. 25 Canadian Natural; No. 34 Imperial Oil; No. 46 Cenovus; No. 48 Husky amd No. 50 Talisman. Oilfield service companies averaged the greatest value gains (+44%). Schlumberger (no. 9) achieved its highest rank since 2001. All three service companies on the list, Schlumberger, Halliburton and Baker Hughes benefitted from the robust U.S. market for hydraulic fracturing---see the PFC report. Also, please read the press release from PFC Energy, here. Update: Please see my post "PFC Energy 50 Ranking of World’s Top Energy Companies: SuperMajors, led by Chevron, Top 2011 Value Growth Performance." -- D.R.)